Destroyer 54 Last Drop by Warren Murphy

Destroyer 54 Last Drop by Warren Murphy

This one will pull you right in. The novel begins with a rather typical Destroyer problem. Someone has found a way to infuse pure heroine into coffee and coffee fanatics across the country are dying in droves from the resulting (and unexpected) drug overdose. CURE begins to investigate and discovers that something far more troubling to them personally is going on. Everyone that Remo has contact with ends up dead by an unknown assassin’s hand suggesting someone knows about CURE and also putting Smith in great danger.

 

As Remo continues to try and track down the source of the tainted coffee, Chiun races off to protect Smith who is already in trouble. And then things get really exciting. Remo is facing off against a master of the mechanical trap and while the reader knows he has to survive to star in the next 100+ books in the series, the threats seem genuine as he encounters them. Remo is also going through a sort of existential crisis (again) about his profession (i.e. killing people) and I thought that his resolution was the best one they have come up with yet for his periodic distaste for his profession.

 

Let me add that the ultimate villain should have been obvious but wasn’t. I’m embarrassed I didn’t catch on earlier. Murphy actually used the tropes of the series against me, and I loved it. This is four books in a row that the author has found his mojo again, giving me a lot of hope for the next novel.